


Only During Thunderstorms

by inqwex



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 01:12:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8080930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inqwex/pseuds/inqwex
Summary: Nikola has a plan. Helen is amused. The rest of the crew are not. Can be read as gen, but does contain pre-shippy hints.





	

Author's Note: Hello, anyone still in the Sanctuary tag. I've come late to the party (the story of my fandom life) but this fic exploded from my fingertips over the last two hours and I feel compelled to post it up. I've completely made up the timeline into which to insert this, but I imagine Tesla has been fairly recently revamped but we are around the anniversary of Ashley's death. Please give me any feedback you like.

 

* * *

 

 

“Well, we can take these abnormals from Tokyo if we have to,” Will frowned as he flicked through the files on the tablet Henry offered him.

“I just don’t understand why they can’t just separate them,” Henry grumbled. “Transport’s going to be a real pain, Doc.”

“Perhaps, but we’re the best equipped to deal with the lurfts. London’s got its hands full at the moment with that outbreak, and none of the other Sanctuaries have space at the moment either,” Magnus glanced at the Big Guy. “How long do you think before we can prepare the appropriate habitat? We’ll need to convert, say, one of the level 3 suites to mimic their normal environment.”

“Huh, well, if I get some good help,” the Big Guy looked pointedly at Kate, “then maybe three days. Somebody was slow in decontaminating the spare level 3 suite.”

Magnus bit back a smile as Kate rolled her eyes.

“You would be slow too if you were wading through slime!” she protested quickly, before glancing back a little nervously at Helen.

Magnus’ smile escaped. “Well, consider this a deadline and you can help the Big Guy.”

Kate nodded in resignation.

“Well, with that settled, let’s move on to the next item,” Magnus picked up the next folder on the table.

“Yeah, so this-” Will leant forward and began to speak but was cut off by the bang of the door.

“Helen, there you are!” a familiar voice exclaimed. Will groaned and lowered his head into his hands.

“Yes, Nikola, at the staff meeting I mentioned earlier,” Magnus said pointedly.

“Haven’t you been watching the weather channel? Or listening to the radio? Or looking at the radar map?” Tesla sounded particularly excited even for him.

Will looked up, and immediately groaned to himself. This was not going to be good.

Tesla was standing there in his usual melodramatic fashion, but uncharacteristically for him, he was holding an armload of…stuff… that was teetering dangerously.

“Rain, I thought,” Magnus raised an eyebrow. Will frowned at the understatement. The next item on the agenda was to double check arrangements were completed for the thunderstorm due over the Old City shortly, and Magnus was well aware of that. It was supposed to be one of the biggest storms in recent years.

“Helen, Helen,” Nikola shook his head. “You get so wrapped up. There’s a thunderstorm! Massive one. Should be here in, ooh, about twenty minutes. That’s just about enough time to set up.”

He shot Magnus an expectant look, adjusting the load of wires and boxes and quite frankly, Will didn’t want to know what else he was holding in there. It was so like him, to just expect everyone to drop everything because the great Nikola Tesla wanted something. Will was going to enjoy the look on the vampire’s face as he was shut down –

“I’m busy, Nikola. Staff meeting,” Magnus didn’t sound particularly convincing even for her, and Will looked at her in disbelief.

“Helen.”

Sometimes Will forgot how long the two of them had been friends. Enemies. Whatever. Frenemies.  Still, he couldn’t even begin to interpret the tone of voice in which Nikola had said his boss’ name, nor the meaning behind the slightly deranged matching grins.

“What’s the point of having your young protegee around if you can’t join an old friend to push the boundaries of science again?” his tone was light and conversational, but Will was beginning to feel increasingly like there was a second conversation going on in the looks that were flying between them.

“What are you doing?” Henry asked, interrupting the second conversation with his eagerness.

“Nothing that you need concern your little brain with, Heinrich,” Nikola said, not looking away from Magnus. It was the offhand way in which he said these kinds of things to Henry that Will hated the most about the vampire.

“Nikola,” at least Magnus had the grace to sound disapproving. Tesla merely shrugged, and in the process, dropped a – was that a piece of pipe? “Well in the interests of the staff meeting actually concluding with minimal disruption, Will, can I leave you to it?”

“Sure,” Will answered reflexively, as his boss rose far too quickly and eagerly, reflexively adjusting the dark jacket she wore.

“You’ll catch your death of cold,” the Big Guy said unhappily.

“Excellent, grab that,” Nikola tilted his head to the detritus on the floor, ignoring Biggie completely.

“It’s junk, Nikola,” Magnus said, resting a hand on the Big Guy’s shoulder in reassurance as she passed.

“It’s a vital piece of equipment.”

“If you blow up my house –”

“Oh, please, you blow up one house and suddenly it’s all anyone can talk about a hundred years later – hey, where are you going? This vital piece of equipment will only fall again!”

Tesla was propping the door open with a foot, the pipe placed unsteadily on the top of the stack of stuff, as Magnus hurried back to her desk. Unlocking the bottom drawer, she pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Helen Magnus, are you trying to get me drunk?” Tesla asked in a fake-shocked tone. “If you want your way with me there are easier means.”

“I don’t have to bring it, or allow you access to the cellar,” Magnus started to replace the glasses and bottle.

“No no, don’t be ridiculous,” Tesla said hurriedly. “Science is always better with wine.”

“Is this really the smartest idea?” Will couldn’t help but say. Magnus and Tesla looked at him, Magnus with a considering look, Tesla with an exasperated one.

“You’re right, Will,” Magnus said. “The glasses are expensive and will probably break knowing Nikola’s penchant for destruction.”

“Are we really going to be so uncivilised?” Tesla whined.

“I think he meant drinking on a roof during a thunderstorm,” Kate said as Magnus merely replaced the glasses and headed out the door with the bottle.

“Oh, it’s been over sixty years since either of us have fallen off a roof,” Tesla said flippantly.

“For me, maybe. That destroyed car with your little Ivy League addict vampires?” Magnus said pointedly. “Anyway, as I recall, you didn’t provide glasses in Oxford either you barbarian.”

“That wasn’t a roof, that was a balcony. And I didn’t have any!”

“Same thing.”

“No it isn’t!”

As their voices trailed off, Will looked around at the remaining employees, rubbing his temples where he felt a headache coming on.

“Dude, it’s a really big storm,” Henry said in alarm, peering at his tablet.

“Yeah, that was the next item; making sure everyone was secure who doesn’t do well in electrical storms,” Will resignedly picked up the folder Magnus had so casually abandoned.

“Yeah but will they be safe?” Henry persisted. “The Doc and Tesla.”

“You haven’t wiki’d him clearly,” Kate said. “This is, like, his jam. Even before he was immortal.”

“That doesn’t make it any smarter.”

“Nobody accused scientists of having any common sense,” Kate said, ignoring the wounded looks from Henry and Will, who felt he really should be included among the scientists.

 

* * *

 

 

“So what are we testing,” Helen played along as she handed a wire to Nikola, the wind whipping at his jacket as he crouched over the lightning tower he had already rapidly assembled.

“See this?” he produced a small box from the inside pocket of his jacket. “It’s a battery. Imagine, if we could store lightning in these – they’re trinium alloy. I’m working on a way of then being able to transmit this energy across distances.”

Helen smiled at him.

“So we plug that in?”

“And hopefully crash boom bang.”

“And you can’t test this with the electricity you generate?” Helen asked, knowing full well his answer.

His eyes danced as he gave her a toothy grin. “Helen, where’s the fun in that?”

 

* * *

 

 

Will cracked open the door to the top of the tower, wincing as the wind whipped water into his face, stinging with the cold.

“ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?” he shouted over a peal of thunder.

Magnus and Tesla were just standing there over a dangerously wobbly tower of steel poles and pipes, with no clear protective measures in place.

They didn’t appear to hear him, and Magnus simply took a swig from the wine bottle she had taken upstairs.

Will edged out, keeping under the small lip of the roof as much as he could.

“THIS STORM’S GETTING WORSE!” he tried again, this time with more success.

“LIGHTNING HASN’T COME YET, BUCKO,” Tesla shouted back at him.

“WE’RE FINE, WILL,” Magnus’ tone was warmer, although the glare she directed at Tesla as he used her brief moment of distraction to snag the wine from her and take his own swallow from it.

 

* * *

 

 

Will shook his head, before shutting the door resignedly.

“They didn’t go for it?” Henry asked, hunched over the computer, as Will walked back into the library.

“Clearly not,” Will replied.

“Hey!” a towel was flung at his head by the Big Guy. “Stop getting water everywhere!”

“Sorry, Biggie,” Will replied.

“They’re officially nuts,” Kate said, reluctantly dropping her boots off the table at the Big Guy’s glare. “I mean, I always knew he was, but she’s just run off and joined him.”

“You have no idea, it’s wild out there,” Will said. “I didn’t even go outside and look at me!” He gestured to the mostly-wet shirt he was still wearing. “In fact, I’m going to change into something warmer.”

He turned on his heel to go, when there was a loud crack of thunder and all the lights suddenly blew.

“Wow, I thought we were lightning proof, Hank?” a small circle of light appeared around Kate as she switched on her keyring torch.

“We are,” Henry said, frowning.

Will sighed. “What if someone were to build a lightning rod-”

“Oh no, no, no! Tell me he didn’t!”

The silence answered Henry’s question.

“If that got hit and caused us to lose power, what about Magnus?” the Big Guy said in concern.

“I’ll head down to the power grid,” Henry jumped up.

“I’ll go check on them,” Will said. “I’m wet anyway.”

“I’ll start a fire,” the Big Guy nodded and shuffled off.

“I’ll…supervise,” Kate said, leaning back in her chair as the men hurried off.

 

* * *

 

 “MAGNUS!” Will yanked open the door with a yell, only to catch fragments of an alarmingly unconcerned conversation.

“THAT COULD HAVE GONE BETTER,” Tesla was yelling.

“MAYBE NEXT TIME. LOOKS LIKE THE CONNECTION WAS THE BIT THAT FRIED, NOT THE RESERVOIR,” Magnus replied.

“WE’VE LOST POWER HERE,” Will screamed, feeling the headache that had been niggling at him earlier suddenly worsen.

Magnus and Tesla turned to face him, and Will felt his eyebrows leap up.

They were both soaked, but still, inexplicably, were grinning, their teeth bright against faces blacked with soot that was already beginning to run with the rain.

“OOPS,” yelled Tesla. Will couldn’t help but think that he really looked very young with his hair plastered to his forehead.

“YOU DO REALISE YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO FIX THAT AT SOME POINT,” Magnus pointed out.

“I’M SURE WOLF-BOY HAS THIS COVERED,” Tesla replied.

“YEAH, HENRY IS ACTUALLY GOING AND CLEANING UP YOUR MESS,” Will said. “LET US KNOW WHEN YOU GUYS FEEL LIKE RETURNING TO THE WORLD OF THE SANE.”

Will refused to feel petty as he let the door slam violently shut.

 

* * *

 

 “I THINK WE’VE ANNOYED PROTEGEE,” Nikola said, peering at her to try to gauge her reaction on the green-lit rooftop.

“HE’LL GET OVER IT,” Helen replied, turning her attention back to the failed piece of junk. “TELL ME, NIKOLA, WHAT WAS YOUR BATTERY SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO HOLD?”

“ABOUT THAT…”

“NIKOLA…”

“WELL…YOU HAD FUN DIDN’T YOU?”

Helen burst out laughing.

“SO IT WAS ALL A SET UP,” she said, watching her oldest friend relax infinitesimally.

He shot her a roguish grin. “SO YOU DID ENJOY IT?”

“I’M SOAKED TO THE SKIN AND MY SANCTUARY HAS NO POWER!” The smile on her face belied her words. “But to stand on a roof during a thunderstorm, Nikola, that’s a small price.”

Nikola simply smiled back at her, his hand reaching out to squeeze hers briefly.

 

* * *

  

“Well, thankfully, it was just the non-essential power that got fried,” Henry said as he re-entered the library, which now felt disproportionately toasty due to the roaring fire the Big Guy had built. “Everything else is up and running, but the rest of the place is going to have to wait until I can replace that section of wiring.”

“I hope it was worth it, this place will be freezing!” Kate complained, as she stuck a skewer with a marshmallow on it into the fire.

“Oh yeah, you’ve had a real tough time,” Will said sarcastically. “Biggie’s done the fire, Henry’s been scrabbling through the power board, and I’ve been outside and you have done what exactly?”

“Supervised,” Kate said smugly, popping the marshmallow into her mouth.

“Give me one of those!” Will demanded, reaching for the bag.

Laughter coursed down the corridor.

“I think they’ve finally come to their senses,” Will said, crouching closer to the fire as he gingerly let his own marshmallow skewer into the flames.

The Big Guy grunted, and as Tesla and Magnus entered, immediately threw a thick fluffy towel around Magnus’ shoulders.

“Thank you,” she said warmly, and a touch too loudly, pulling the towel closely around her shoulders.

“You’re welcome,” the Big Guy smiled at her before unceremoniously throwing a towel at Tesla.

“Hey!” the vampire objected, but he took no time to wipe his face dry.

“Ohh, it’s warm in here,” Magnus said, moving closer to the fire. As she did, Will saw how much she was shivering and some of his irritation gave way to worry. “Can’t wait for a hot shower.”

“No can do, Doc,” Henry said, apologetically. “Non-essential hot water is fried. It’s just enough for Kumawani. Because _somebody_ didn’t ground the damn lightning rod.”

“Oops,” Tesla shrugged. “Also, Kumawani? If that is a Japanese water dragon as I suspect, bit of a simplistic name.”

“Dude,” Henry was clearly offended, but subsided as Magnus raised a slightly shivering hand.

“Don’t deflect, Nikola, I am blaming you fully,” she said.

“Helen, you were there with me!” he pouted, frowning at the black soot now smeared on his towel. He wrapped it around Magnus’ shoulders rather than dry his own hair with it. “Besides, who has electrical hot water these days? A solar system would be much better.”

“Fine you can install one for us,” Helen said, drawing the vampire’s towel around herself as well.

“Or I could install a lightning-”

“Solar _works_ , Nikola.”

“You need to get out of those wet clothes,” the Big Guy said in concern. “You look blue.”

“Don’t,” she forestalled the inevitable remark. “Yes, I might go and get dry and changed. But it’s quite toasty in here.”

“I’ll make you some tea,” the Big Guy practically skipped out the door. Magnus headed to follow at a more sedate pace, with Tesla behind her.

“Nikola-”

“Why must you always think the worst of me?”

“Really?”

“Well, just because I’m not as affected by the cold as you doesn’t mean I want to stay in these soaked clothes.”

As their voices faded yet again down the corridor, Will sighed.

“Some people have normal bosses. Who have normal friends.”

 

* * *

 

The fire had settled to a large glowing grate of coals.

“Just like old times,” Helen said softly, into the huge mug of tea she cradled in her hands, as she sat rugged up on the couch that had been pulled up to the fireplace.

“Minus the snoring rugrats,” Nikola said from beside her. Helen smiled as he gestured in faked disdain at the scene around them.

They’d returned to find that the Big Guy had brought blankets, hot chocolate or tea, and marshmallows for everyone. The Big Guy himself was slumped happily in his rocking chair near the fireplace, snoring lightly and yelping occasionally in his sleep. Henry was curled up around his tablet on the floor on his stomach, his back providing a pillow for Kate’s head. Will meanwhile was fast asleep leaning against the wall near the fireplace.

Helen yawned. And felt an arm snake around her shoulders. She forced her eyes open enough to sleepily glare at Nikola.

“No funny business,” he promised. “You look tired. Have you even slept since...”

He didn't need to say _since the anniversary of Ashley's death_ _._ Helen felt tears well in her eyes, _again_ , but briefly brushed his cheek with her fingers. She let her head droop down to rest on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" she could feel the reverberations through his shoulder as he spoke.

"Coming back for me. Stopping the vampire takeover even though we lost the map."

"I wasn't going to let that inbred cow win. Anyway, murderous rampages of the sort she was proposing are overrated," there was that strange note in his voice. Helen lifted her head to look at her friend's face. A year since her daughter's funeral, and almost a year since Nikola had come back from his and John's ... operation. He'd arrived on the doorstep in desperate need of a shower and clean clothes. He'd had the same oddly grim expression she remembered from the early days of the War, the one she knew James, Nigel, and she herself had worn when confronted with the things soldiers had to do.

"Nikola -"

"I didn't do it for you," he said. "Nor for her specifically. But she and her companions deserved better than the Cabal,  _and_ they've been a thorn in my side for half a century."

"You'd restrained the urge to rip them apart," the same mix of guilt, secret delight, and a dissociated kind of disinterest in the fate of those who'd tortured her daughter welled up from the place she'd buried it when he'd arrived back with a simple,  _they won't trouble anyone again_.

"Maybe I shouldn't have," he said quietly. "It's not your fault, what I have done."

"I'm a killer too, Nikola. Having that weigh on you is not a failure," Helen wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him.

"Once I would never have dreamed of ripping someone's throat out with my bare hands, let alone with Jack the Ripper beside me," Nikola's voice was almost inaudible, even sitting as close as they were. "But, Helen, I wouldn't go back to being that young, foolish Serbian peasant for anything."

"I wouldn't want you to, even though he was my dearest friend."

The fire spat particularly loudly.

"Good night, Nikola."

"Good night, Helen."

 

* * *

 

 Will groaned, muscles protesting as he stretched.

“Morning, sunshine,” a sardonic low voice came from the couch, and Will blinked bleary eyes to see Nikola Tesla on the couch, Magnus’ head resting on his shoulder in a picture of easy domesticity.

“What happened?”

“A thunderstorm, too much sugar for your delicate constitutions, and sleep,” the vampire summarised.

Will looked around to see his colleagues sprawled around the area in varyingly uncomfortable sleeping positions.

“Are you watching us sleep?” he blurted out.

“You are not that attractive a view,” the vampire said dryly. “I may not need to sleep, but it’s nice to rest my eyes every so often.”

Will opened his mouth, but decided he was too tired and stiff to bother opening up the can of innuendo that was suggesting Tesla didn’t want to move because of Magnus’ current position.

“I’m going to bed,” he said instead, but a large yawn threated to split his face in half. “In a minute.”

The next time he opened his eyes, the couch was empty of both Tesla and Magnus. The Big Guy was clearing the tray of drinks, and looked up as Will groaned.

“Thought you were going to sleep all day,” he said.

“What time is it?”

“Ten-thirty.”

“Hey, where’s everyone else?”

The Big Guy looked as amused as Will had ever seen him.

“You’ll never guess who’s installing solar panels on the roof,” was the reply. "He's managed to tear his jacket."


End file.
